Sell your shares now - a guide
This essay on how to sell your shares was posted in the game forums by '''Captain Odyoda' on 14 October 2008. Please do not edit it. Feel free, however, to discuss it on the talk page.'' Many people have questions like: "I've put up all my shares, why are they not selling?!" or "What can I do to get people to buy my shares?" Or even statements like: "I've got a really great stockpile and I'm climbing fast, come buy my shares!" But don't know how to go about selling their shares properly. Here, I will discuss how to make your dreams (for your shares) come true. Rules: If you have ever thought of posting any of these, please wait, and read. Reading the forum rules (beneath the area where you can post a thread or a reply), you will find the following bit of information: "Never advertise your company, your shares, or your goods on the market!" Let me say that again; It is against forum policy to advertise your company, or your shares. ALL of the quotes above are against that rule, so please don't post them as a new thread, or a reply to another thread. Can Do Attitude: There ARE a couple of things you can do to help your shares sell quickly, and I will touch on as many as I can. All of these things are within the rules and will not only keep you out of trouble, but will profit your current company, and any companies you have in future rounds by building reputation. Facts of Share Buying, The Good, The Great and the Unfair : For new players, it can often be discouraging that their shares do not sell, especially at the beginning of the round when all shares look the same (100iKr, no/low stockpile, etc). Why do those other shares sell? At the beginning of the round, money is at a premium, the only shares that veterans buy are those that they KNOW will be a good investment, either because of dividends, or growth. This means that usually, the only shares that are bought are from players with a history of good dividends, or high C-Rank finishes in previous rounds. This is known as share reputation. There are other factors that affect share reputation. For instance, when someone checks out your shares, they will also check out your player record: How many rounds have you played; How high did you finish, and importantly, do you have any bankrupt companies this round. While this may seem like it gives the established players an unfair advantage in the early game, it does. However, that does NOT give the players an unfair advantage for the round. Sound decisions mid and late round are what win, not so much the initial choices - often those at the head of the pack early in the game get replaced by frugal companies skyrocketing upward mid game. Eventually however, you will become an established player and have your acquaintances you have built trust with who will seek out your shares early and buy them. In the mean time, here are the key things to do to sell your shares quickly: Good Shares What is a "Good" share? You think yours are good, but what about the other companies? How do they rate? Stockpile The quote above of "I've got a really great stockpile and I'm climbing fast, come buy my shares!" Is usually accompanied by a posting of what their stockpile is. A quick check on most of these companies' shares will reveal it... Normally, not that impressive... What is impressive then, you might ask? A quick look at the Records page will give you a list of the top 50 dividends paid (all time, or even just this round). At the time of this posting, the WORST of the top 50 this round is: 199,338. THAT is a good dividend. However, the best for the round so far is a whopping 535,625iKr... that's just under 11,000iKr dividend per share... STAGGERING! You do not need to get to those levels to sell shares quickly, but a dividend above 3000 is highly recommended, while a minimum dividend of 2000 is REQUIRED to even be looked at by most players. So before you go bragging about your high stockpile, please remember what a REAL stockpile is. Share Value I will not get in to what determines share value, as that is directly in the rules. However, I will go over what a "good" share value is to get recognized. A good rule that a lot of experienced players use to determine if an unknown player's shares are worth buying is to look for a steady, good increase in share value. This shows your company is stable, and knows how to plan ahead for large expenses like salaries and taxes. Remember, going down hurts value more than you know: If you go up 15% one day, then back down 15% the next, your shares will be worse than when you started (15% of the bigger number is more than 15% of the smaller base number). There is no real set value for what a good, high-priced share is, since most players have their own style for how many shares they keep on hand. However, since only your top 50 shares give you a dividend, a higher share value will mean that your stockpile will actually do something for the person who buys it, and make them want to buy it more. Name Recognition The other main thing that an increased share value does for you, is get your shares on the first page of the share list. This truly is critical for quick-selling your shares. Many players (except the expert, novice, and risk-takers) only look at the first page of shares, thinking that the best ones are the highest priced. Getting your value up means that your name is seen more, and in business, name recognition is everything. Press Releases: As name recognition is key, doing things (within the rules) that get your name out there is not only recommended, but almost necessary to building report. A good tool for doing this (although slightly controversial) is the Press Release. I will not go in to how do do one, since there is a whole other topic dedicated solely to that. Forum Activity Having a good number of posts in the forums is good as well. This does not include spamming the forum. Instead, try an be helpful and ask only questions that you have researched first but could not find an answer to. Posting a question that is easily available in the Help Files or in a thread two spots down from yours makes people frustrated and less likely to buy your shares. However, if you research the Help Files and actually ANSWER some questions, people (especially those you are helping) will be grateful to you and may just buy a share or two because of that. Put these things together, and you, too, will sell your shares. It may take a while, but remember, the round is 70 days long, and the real game is won by your decisions, not by people buying your shares. As for credentials, I do like to think I know what I'm talking about. With 6 finishes in the top 50 for S-Rank, and the all-time record for share value... I've done a bit of research and testing. Thank you, Captain Odyoda Strategy and How to Guides